The Beige Room
by 2LAZY2THINKOFAUSERNAME
Summary: They've been having strange dreams lately. But there only dreams... So why do they feel such dread? Prolouge to "The Light That Burns"
1. The Hot Blooded One Uzumaki Naruto

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**The Beige Room-**_** Naruto**_

_It was the middle of the night. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he remembered the dream._

He was sitting in the middle of a beige room. There was a dim light that seemed to come from nowhere. The floor was damp, and there was a smell of fish in the air. He felt sore all over. He couldn't feel his toes. He could taste blood in his mouth. Around him shadows danced on the walls.

There were people in the room. A set of people were wearing Konoha headbands. They did battle with a bunch of humanoid figures cloaked in shadow. Knives flew. Animals were summoned, and destroyed just a quickly. He couldn't see their faces clearly, but the voices shouting sounded familiar. He swore he could hear Sakura's voice shouting, "Shanaro!"

Suddenly, a wave of killing intent appeared behind him. He was picked up by a huge hand. Claws dug into his skin. He was lifted up to a shadowy face. He couldn't see clearly even this close. But he could tell it was smiling.

"Well little hero," he cooed in a voice that was definitely not human, "It's high time I took that strange power of yours." Tentacles appeared on either side of him. Disgusting looking yellow things with purple lips. He knew instinctively that if those things touched him, he would die. It would suck all the blood out of him, and the pain would be the last thing he ever experienced. He tried to fight, but he was too tired. He braced himself for death.

Then something flashed in the corner of his eye. A kunai knife embedded itself in the figures head.

"AAHHHRRRGH," It wailed, "You…" It muttered to a Konoha Shinobi "…Very well…You die first!"

It pulled the knife out of its head, looking annoyed, but otherwise completely unharmed. "…Die…" It lunged at the ninja "DIE!" It gripped the poor Nin around the throat, and lifted him up, and his face became visible. Naruto's heart skipped a beat.

"Sh-…Shikamaru." The figure's tentacles appeared, "Shikamaru…" It pressed them against his body. "No…" Shikamaru's eyes went wide, "No." And his skin turned gray as his blood left his body, "NO!"

_He woke up, eyes wide, covered in sweat, breathing hard. He sat up trying to calm himself down. He was in his apartment. There were no people fighting. There were no shadow figures. There was no Shikamaru._

"_What the hell…?" he muttered "…I must of have had some bad milk again."_

_He got up to use the bathroom, and put the dream out of his mind._

_If only he knew what was in the works._


	2. The Strategist, Nara Shikamaru

**Disclaimer; Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.**

_**The Beige Room- Shikamaru**_

* * *

_It was noon. He was lying on the bench. He watched the clouds float slowly through the sky. His eyes closed. He fell asleep to the sound of the birds._

_And then the dream came_

He was walking through a beige hallway. He scanned his surroundings. He could only tell where things were through chakra. There were windows along the corridor, but they were all blacked out. No light came in. There was no way to see out. He could feel the floor rocking beneath him, and heard waves lapping. _"A boat?"_ He thought, _"Why am I on a boat"__._

He kept walking down the hallway, pondering his own question. After about two minutes he heard a sound, like wood cracking. A girl shouted. A boy cried out in pain. He sped up toward the sound. Light began to shine. There was a room at the end of the hallway. He ran into it, and his stomach turned inside out.

It was like a war.

Forty or so Konoha Shinobi did battle against some creatures. The things were unlike anything he had seen before. They were pure black humanoids, about seven feet tall, with skinny legs and arms, bloated bellies, and six fingers on each hand all with huge razor sharp claws. They had no faces, but their foreheads had inward curling horns. Serpentine tails sprouted from their lower backs and they were covered all over in disgusting purple slime.

The creatures jumped nimbly and slashed at the Konoha Ninja. They weren't very good. The Shinobi clearly had more skill, but they were sorely outnumbered, at least five to one. The room had no problem holding such vast numbers. It was easily big enough to accommodate two more groups of that size.

Just then something made a horrible _"__CRUNCH" _sound. The same sound he had heard earlier. There was a blur of motion, and something hit the far wall. A small groan carried across the battle zone. He looked more closely at the thing that had damaged the wall. It was a person. A boy, about Shikamaru's age. The boy was dressed in a kind of jumpsuit, orange and black, now stained red with blood. His hair was spiky and blonde. His toes looked like they'd been put through a meat grinder. He raised his head, and unfortunately, Shikamaru recognized him. It was Naruto Uzumaki.

Before he could even think of walking up to Naruto to check his injuries, another figure, presumably the one that had knocked him into the wall, approached his broken body.

It picked him up by his throat and said, in a rasping, inhuman voice, "Well little hero… It's high time I took that strange power of yours." Then, as if it wasn't already disgusting enough, its bloated stomach burst open, revealing seventy or so wriggling tentacles, yellow fleshy things with purple suction cup like lips at the end. They were all covered in purple slime, which was oozing out through the new opening in its body. He could tell on instinct that they were deadly.

Naruto struggled for a moment, but he wasn't strong enough. Shikamaru came out of his shock just in time. He threw a Kunai at the creature. His aim was true, and the knife thudded into the figures head.

"**AARRGGHHH!**" It screamed, so loud that once it finished, Shikamaru could hear the water sloshing more violently outside. It turned to him. It had no eyes, but Shikamaru could feel it glaring at him, and it had no mouth, but he heard it clear as day, "You… very well… you die first!" It lunged at him. He tried to dodge, but there was no way he could've moved fast enough. The thing caught him by the neck, and lifted him into the air, "…Die…" It reached up with its other hand and pulled the Kunai out of its head, "DIE!" Its tentacles pressed themselves against Shikamaru's clothes, quickly burning through them and onto his skin. He felt the burning sting of acid, as the tentacles eroded away his skin. He heard Naruto saying something and trying to rise. Then he felt a sucking sensation come from the tentacles. He heard Naruto scream louder. He felt cold. His body started going numb. He felt the horrible sensation of losing every last drop of blood in his body.

A second later, a girl rose up from behind the demon, and split its head with one punch.

_He awoke with a full body jerk. He sat up breathing heavy. The sun was setting, making everything seem to glow red._

_He steadied his breathing. He thought about the dream. It was only a nightmare, yet… It seemed so incredibly real._

_Before he could ponder this further, he heard someone calling him._

_He looked to the left. Naruto was there._

"_Glad I found you," He said, with a smile "Tsunade wanted to see you."_

"_Oh… sure."_

_Naruto frowned, "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." His voice quivered a bit on the last word. He really was afraid of ghosts._

"_I'm fine," Shikamaru promised, standing, "I guess I'll be on my way."_

"_If you get a team mission can you take me? I'm so bored. And the air conditioning in my apartment isn't working."_

"_I'll see," He ran off, hoping from building to building._

_But all the while, the dream never left his mind._

* * *

**AN: Okay then. That's another chapter finished. Three more to go and I'll be starting the real story. If you like what you see keep an eye for my story "The Light That Burns". Please review. Constructive criticism is welcome. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Also, I have a poll going on my profile, regarding another story I'm going to be working on. How you vote will greatly affect how I right the story. Please check it out.**

**Next chapter coming soon.**


	3. The Peace Keeper, Haruno Sakura

**Disclaimer; Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto**

_**The Beige Room- Sakura**_

* * *

_It was seven in the morning. She had just come home from a mission. Her parents weren't home. As expected, they had already left for their vacation._

_Her body ached. She had gotten the night shift on border patrol. It was just her luck that someone was actually trying to sneak through the borders while she was there. She walked in to her room, and fell onto her bed, not even bothering to change out of her muddy, torn clothes. She sat there for thirty minutes trying to fall asleep. But, at last she was successful._

_She quickly found herself wishing she had stayed awake._

* * *

She was in a beige storage room. Looking around she saw about three other people with her. They all had clipboards, and seemed to be taking stock of the many boxes and crates around them. There were stairs leading somewhere above them. Feeling tired of being in the cramped, humid room, she walked toward them.

Behind her a familiar voice called out, "Where are you going, Sakura-Chan?"

She turned and saw Shikamaru looking at her questioningly. "Just getting some air," She replied, "I'll be right back."

"Just hurry up, then. We can barely handle this with four people. We can't finish with three."

"I'll be quick," She hurried up the stairs.

She emerged in a room full of windows. Outside she could see seagulls flying. A row of boats expanded on either side of them. Behind them people walked around and chatted happily. In front there were more doors. She could hear waves, and feel rocking. She was on a boat.

She walked over to a window, and opened it. Fresh, salty sea air blew in. She breathed it in. It was a nice change of pace from the hot humid air of Konoha.

"This is great," She muttered to herself, "I can definitely handle this for a couple of weeks." She breathed in more sea air.

She was starting to really relax. A tension in her shoulders relaxed. A bad feeling she hadn't realized she'd had started to ease. She lowered her guard. So naturally, she was surprised when a voice behind her said, "Shouldn't you be taking inventory with the others?"

She jumped. Quickly spinning around, she saw who had startled her, and got a little angry. "Naruto," She said, "Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on people?"

"Sorry," He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "But it's almost time to set sail. We have to finish inventory before we go."

"I know, I know," She replied. "I was just getting some air."

"I can take over for you, if you want," He offered, "I already finished my work."

"That's okay, I can handle it. Thanks though."

"Sure."

With that she took one more breath of sea air, and headed downstairs.

When she got there, two of the ninja taking inventory had started fighting.

"What's going on?" She asked Shikamaru, who was still taking inventory as if there weren't two heavily armed, highly powerful, very angry teens screaming at each other right in front of him.

"Their fighting. I'm taking inventory. You were off doing something else."

"If they get serious, they could blow the whole ship apart." She protested. "You're a Chunin. You're there adviser. _Advise_ them to calm down!"

"Too Troublesome. We have to finish inventory. If they won't help, we have to work twice as hard."

"_Idiot__"_She thought. _"Taking inventory will hardly matter if the ship is destroyed."_

She walked up to the two Genin. They were a boy and a girl, twelve and thirteen respectively. When they saw her coming they abruptly stopped shouting.

"What's going on here?" She demanded "We are about to set sail. The last thing we need is conflict."

"Sorry" the girl muttered, "It was a personal issue."

She looked between the two of them. It wasn't her business, but on missions personal disputes often caused casualties. She had to resolve it. "Tell me about it."

It took a long time- far too long- to get the two to stop fighting over the boy's offhanded remark about the girl being lazy. Thankfully they managed to finish taking inventory before the boat left.

Night came quickly. She lay down in her bunk and hoped for some rest after a long day.

* * *

_Her dream changed, and suddenly she was in the middle of combat_

She smashed opponents left and right as she descended the stairs to yet another part of the ship. She found herself in the middle of a large room, filled with more of her monstrous adversaries. She had plenty of room to go crazy, but for fear of accidently making a hole and sinking the ship, she restrained herself.

"Die!" One of the creatures yelled, "Perish in agony!"

"My thoughts exactly!" She said as she punched through its chest.

It wailed in agony. But just when she thought she'd struck a fatal blow, its chest began to grow back, stretchy fibers weaving themselves together into the perfect fit for its damaged chest. It stumbled away, healed, but clearly completely exhausted. It fled, and Sakura let it go.

She kept pounding away. She now knew she couldn't kill them, but she could at least get them to flee for a little while.

Just when she thought she was starting to really thin out their ranks she heard a sound. A horrible, pained, completely inhuman sound. It was so loud that it made her stumble. Water sloshed outside the boat. When she finally regained her balance she saw Shikamaru held aloft by one of the horrible shadow figures. She charged at it. Shikamaru started to turn grey. She jumped up behind the thing as high as she could without the aid of chakra, fist raised high above her. She brought her fist down, and the figures head split open. That was the good news. The bad news was that it started to heal. She kicked it out of the way and knelt at Shikamaru's side. He had lost a lot of blood, but he was still alive.

"It's okay Shikamaru-Kun," She said, "I can stop the bleeding. You'll be fine."

"N…" He muttered he pointed to the far wall, "Na… Nar… Naruto… Help Naruto."

She looked to the far wall. Naruto was indeed there. He was covered with blood and his arm was twisted at a funny angle, clearly broken. But, it was the type of injury that he healed himself from all the time. She didn't understand why Shikamaru was so concerned.

Then she saw his feet and her eyes went wide, "My God…" She muttered, the contents of her stomach threatening to come out, "…Naruto!"

* * *

_She screamed, bolting up into a sitting position. She breathed hard trying to calm herself. It was only a dream. She shouldn't be so terrified. But… Naruto's feet… No. It was only a dream. She just had to steady her breathing and focus. She looked at her clock. It was almost three in the afternoon. She wasn't surprised. The last second of the dream seemed to last for hours._

_Naruto's feet…_

"_Oh my God…" She Thought "Oh my God… Oh my God… Oh my God… OH MY GOD!" She ran to the bathroom to empty her stomach._

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter finished. I'm almost ready for the real story. I wasn't really satisfied with the length of the first chapter, so I'm going to make sure the rest are longer.**

**Please read and review. I welcome constructive criticism and could really use any tips you can give. And please take a second to vote on my poll. Thanks. Next chapter soon.**


	4. The Warrior, Inuzuka Kiba

**Disclaimer; Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto**

_**The Beige Room- Kiba**_

* * *

_He walked into his room. He had been training with Akamaru for hours, trying to come up with a new technique. He had imagined something cool, something unexpected, something that would make his enemies cower in fear. In other words, his dream technique._

_He hadn't come up with crap._

_Feeling defeated, he lay down on his bed._

"_Honestly," he muttered "How hard can it be to come up with something new? Naruto does it almost every other day.__"__ He gave one last sigh before closing his eyes._

_The dream came so fast, it almost_ _seemed to come before he fell asleep_

* * *

He was Guarding a beige door.

He stood in a hallway. It was several yards wide. It was so long and dark in front of him he couldn't see the end. On either side of him wall sconces burned, but the light seemed uncomfortably dim.

He was scratched up pretty badly, heart pounding. He could smell his own adrenaline. At his side Akamaru growled angrily at the seemingly empty hallway.

He felt awful, but he knew he was lucky. It could have been worse. He could have ended up like Naruto…

"Damn that idiot," He muttered, "All those special techniques, and he still got hurt. I swear, even Lee isn't as cocky as him." Akamaru barked in agreement. _'__Still…I hope he's okay in there…'_

"He hurt his feet," Someone said next to him, "Not his ears. He can hear through this flimsy door."

He looked at the girl, "Maybe. Then he'll know that I called Lee better than him, and he'll heal faster." The girl just huffed in return.

Suddenly, Akamaru growled even more fiercely.

"Their coming," The girl said.

"Yep." He said, adopting his fighting stance, "You sure you're ready for this?"

"Just try and keep up, Fido."

He smiled at her, knowing that it might be the last smile of his life.

Then all hell broke loose.

Ten dark creatures charged at them. They split into two groups of five.

"So, you're gonna try to beat me with numbers, huh?" he made a couple of hand seals, "You should have brought more. _Ninpo: Honto no Jishin Ken!" _He made a fist and quickly punched one of his attackers in the stomach, causing it to start shaking violently. It kept shaking until it started to smoke. Then it collapsed and dissolved into sand. "Yes! It worked!"

"Now is not the time for experimenting," She shouted as she stabbed one of the offenders in the head with a kunai for what was probably the seventh time.

"It's the perfect time for it," he insisted as Akamaru bit one of their opponent's heads off splattering yellow blood everywhere.

'_Two down' _He thought _'__only eight left… well, three for me if she can hold her own'_ he punched another one causing it to shake. This was almost too easy.

Then he noticed the other two headed for the door.

"Oh no, you don't!" He shouted "_Ninpo: Honto no Jishin Ken!" _He roundhouse punched one in the side, and used the momentum to sweep kick the other, before bringing his fist down on its back.

He looked at the girl, who had just reduced the last of her enemies to sand.

"Not too shabby." He decided "But you've still got some work to do" She glared fiercely at him.

Just then the door opened and a boy came out. "We heard fighting!"

"A little late," Kiba muttered "But it's about time for you to relieve us anyway."

"Yes, Inuzuka-san" He bowed politely. "We are very sorry for our late timing. Please forgive us."

"No problem… Well… Try not to die. See ya!" He went into the beige room with his friend. The boy and another girl took their place.

"'Try not to die,'" The girl quoted "Seriously?"

"What did you want me to say? 'Have fun?'"

"Guys," A familiar voice called. They turned to see Sakura looking at them, "How many were there?"

"Ten" he supplied "They aren't using a lot of troops, but they're attacking us really often"

"I see…" her voice trailed off "Well, go get some water and recharge. You look awful."

"Sure…Ah, How's Naruto?"

"He'll be alright. He's passed out cold for now. I suggest you recharge before he wakes up. He'll try to spar with you."

"That guy. Honestly…" He went to go get water.

On the way, he tripped over a girl in a sleeping bag.

"Ow!" The girl shouted. "Watch where you're going Aki!" The she looked up "Oh… Kiba-san. My apologies. I thought you were someone else."

"Don't apologize. _I_ tripped over _you_." He bowed to her "I'm sorry"

"Um… That's fine."

"Tenmei!" someone called, "We need you over here!"

"I have to go." She said, getting out of her sleeping bag and standing up.

"Sure. I'll see you around…?"

"Absolutely." She turned and left.

Kiba watched her as she left. She was only thirteen. She had signed on to be a ninja of free will. Most people did. But Kiba still felt that they shouldn't be allowed to go into combat until they were at least fifteen. It wasn't right. They were being paid to go and assassinate people. He didn't have a problem with the thought of taking a life, if the person deserved to die, and the village never let random people commission them for something like that. But still… letting a thirteen year old girl go out and snap people's necks… Well, it wasn't nearly as taboo as it would be in the modern age, but Kiba still found it… Indecent. Yes, that was the word he was looking for.

At any rate, he didn't dwell on it for too long. He went to get his water.

When he found the tub of clean water, he was less than happy to learn that it was next to the injured. Several people screamed as they're wounds were sewn shut.

"Well…" He muttered, unrolling a scroll he'd had in his pocket and using it to summon a water bowl for Akamaru. He filled it up and set it down next to the tub. "…Drink up, buddy."

He used his hands to pick up some of the cool, clean water, and drank to the sounds of injured men and women screaming in pain.

* * *

_He awoke to birds chirping. He sat up groggily. Morning light streamed through his window. Despite his full night sleep, he felt exhausted._

"_What the hell was that all about…?" he muttered. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a nightmare. And he was absolutely certain that he'd never had such realistic dream._

_Then he thought about something else…_

"Honto no Jishin Ken_,_ _huh?" he focused. Sure enough he could remember exactly how he channeled chakra in the dream. "AKAMARU! GET UP! I KNOW WHAT OUR BIG JUTSU IS GONNA BE!"_

_Amazingly, he forgot everything else about the dream._

* * *

**A/N: One more chapter before "The Light that Burns." I'm getting excited. So sorry I took so long to update. I've been really busy lately. But I'm back. I promise to update more frequently.**

**I realized as I was writing this that had been focusing a lot on Physical Horror and a little suspense, but I hadn't actually achieved my goal; Survival Horror and Psychological Horror. So toward the end of this chapter I tried to create some Psychological Horror by pointing out some the more morbid, but little noticed details in Naruto, such as pre-teens signing up to be assassins and having to eat their food and drink their water around injured people, and how that is socially acceptable to them. I don't criticize Naruto. In a different time and different culture that may have been perfectly acceptable. I'm merely pointing out that in modern times it would not be nearly so acceptable****.**

**That said I would like to thank everyone who is sticking with this story. I'm getting less and less views on each chapter, and I greatly appreciate the people who are still reading. Special Thanks to Myth. . for being the first author to add my story to their alert list.**

**One last thing; **_**Honto no Jishin Ken **_**is Japanese for "True earthquake fist" (According to Google Translate, anyway.)**

**Next Chapter soon.**


	5. The Weaponist, Tenten

**A/N: I am so, so, so, **_**sooooo**_** sorry about not updating in like a month. So much is going on right now. I know I promised you more updates. So for those of you who followed me all this way, here's a present for your faith in me****.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Naruto**_**. All rights go to their respective owners.**

_**The Beige Room- Tenten**_

* * *

_Tenten was having a bad day. She'd been woken up by her mother at 4:00 a.m. She'd been forty-five minutes late for target practice (Kiba had needed her help with training. Something about a new technique). Gai had made her run around Konoha 200 times on her hands (She'd just about died from exhaustion). Then, after she'd gotten out of the hospital (for fatigue and dehydration, of course) she had been forced to spend the last three hours of the day doing farm work on a mission._

_So yes, Tenten was having a very bad day. Now all she wanted to do was lie down and sleep. She just wanted to have a dream about winning a country-wide throwing knife competition._

_That was not the dream she had._

* * *

She was really getting tired of beige.

Everywhere she went for the past seven days, it was beige. Like everything was coated in sand. Beige hallways. Beige ceilings. Beige Pipes. _Everything_ was beige. She was sick of it. It couldn't have been good for her mental health, just seeing one color for weeks on end. Of course… there were other things taxing her mental health at the moment.

"Tenten! Behind you!" She bent forward as black claws, like obsidian, ripped through the spot her head had just been. She turned it into a handstand, with her knees all the way against her chest. Near the top of her flip she kicked out, and struck the demon in the chin. He went down hard. When she landed, she bent backwards, and stabbed it in the head. She stood up, and turned around just in time to see it dissolve into sand.

"Damn… I can't believe there are still more left! We've been fighting for days!" She shook her head as the last of the sand dissolved into nothingness.

"This is Insanity!" Kiba agreed, "I have to point out that it was _your_ idea to leave the safe zone…"

"_Go_ to _hell__._"

"Isn't that where were headed?" he gave her that annoying smirk that she had come to hate after five days. Before she could hit him and tell him to shut the hell up, a deep, angry, inhuman growl came from somewhere of their five o'clock.

There were more on their tail.

"Let's go." She said. No more talk was necessary. They pushed on, walking through glowing, ankle-deep, purple slime. It should have terrified Tenten. But she liked it. It was the only thing that stood out against that damned color.

They seemed to walk for hours. But Tenten knew it was only a few minutes at the most. Eventually they came into a small room with a table in the middle. Tenten almost cried. Food. There was Food. Real food. It was junk food, nothing but potato chips, but it would give her energy.

Kiba shouted, "_Booze!"_ He went straight for the sake bottle.

"Are you kidding me!?" She demanded as Kiba downed half the bottle in a single gulp.

"What? We've been fighting for days. If I want to calm my nerves, I can." He sat down on the floor.

Tenten opened a bag of Barbecue flavor Potato chips, "I just think it would be a good idea to stay on alert."

"Of course you do." He took another swig of Sake.

"So when they attack us you'll be able to fight them drunk? Do you honestly think that's a good idea?"

"_Shut Up!_" he shouted indignantly, taking yet another drink from his precious bottle of Sake "I've been running through ankle-deep slime for days! I'm living like a hunted animal! There's no telling what happened to Akamaru! So I can damned well do as I please!"

Tenten stared at him for a minute, as if unsure how to respond. You would be too. Everything he'd said was reasonable. They spent three days just running. Surviving. What else could they do? Talk? About what? There was nothing to talk about, or at least, nothing that would make the situation less hopeless. Was the world outside being overrun like they'd been? Or was it still sunny and warm like it had been when they last seen it? She longed for the sun. She wanted to see the world again. She didn't want to be trapped in a link to hell. She didn't want to charge into enemy territory. She had convinced herself that she couldn't fail against such unworthy enemies. She couldn't… die? Could she? She was still young. She couldn't really die with so much left to do in her life… could she?

She looked at the thick purple slime around her ankles. The odds weren't exactly in her favor.

"Whatever…" She ate another chip, savoring the taste of barbeque and the color of orange standing out against the beige. The further they went the more the colors she saw. The purple slime glowed brighter. Orange light occasionally shined through the doorways. Black spots on the ceiling. But she still felt constantly oppressed by the sandy monochrome all around them.

"Kiba…?"

"What?"

"Do you think… do you think we're doing the right thing here? Do you think we can really pull this off, or…?" Her voice trailed off.

"Or what, Tenten? What are you thinking?"

"Do you think we're going to die?" she managed. As soon as she said it she felt silly. This was Kiba she was talking to. Of course he didn't think they were going to die. He may have been short on manners and self-control, but he'd never lacked confidence.

"Yes," Tenten turned to stare at him "We're almost definitely going to die. But on the off chance we live long enough to get where were going we'll throw a huge wrench in their plans. I think it's worth the risk."

"…Yeah…" she stared at her bag of chips. If Kiba thought they were going to die things were pretty bad.

"You know," Kiba added, "If we _do_ survive this will be legends. When we get home they'll shower us with gifts, ask us to do interviews, come to our homes and praise us, all that.

"Yeah? You think so?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well obviously they'll be more interested me then you. Try not to be jealous though. It's only because I'm cooler than you- OW!" He rubbed the back of his head where Tenten had hit him, "Can't you take a joke!?"

"Can't you take a punch?" She glared at him, "Princess…"

They probably would've fought right there. In the middle of the slimy room, with nothing but a table, a bag of chips, and a bottle of sake. But before they could, they heard a sound from somewhere nearby, "_grrrrrrrrrr_"

Tenten's eyes went wide, "Kiba…!"

"Yeah," he agreed "Time to go."

They rushed out the door, hoping to avoid whatever was chasing them. The world twisted and turned. It became less and less like their world, and more like… Something else. It's completely impossible to describe. It was full of Geometric symbols carved in the walls, but the geometry… wasn't something humans could really conceive. They kept running. The slime turned into a solid, slippery substance, like a really thick stained glass window. Kiba and Tenten kept running on it hugging corners, and not slowing down for anything. But the thing behind them kept gaining.

"_GRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!_" It didn't sound happy.

"Run!" Tenten shouted

"Oh _no_, I'm gonna sit down and take a _break_! What the _hell_ do you think I'm doing dumbass!?"

"Save your breath and move!"

They made it about thirty meters.

"TENTEN, STOP!" she tried to take Kiba's warning, but it was too late. Right in front of her, a pit opened up in the glassy purple floor, glowing blue like lightning. "NO!"

She couldn't stop in time. She ran straight into the pit. The world turned blue. Light burned her body. Her blood boiled. Her brain overheated. She was in intense pain, until all her nerves were destroyed. And the last thing she remembered was finally being free of that damned color.

* * *

"_Tenten! Wake up!" her mother shouted as Tenten flopped around in bed, like a fish out of water._

"_No!" She shouted "N-… No. NO!"_

_She opened her eyes. She could see where she was. She could see that she was in her room. Her mother, father, and brother were all there. They tried to get her to stop shaking. But… She was dead. Wasn't she? It may have been a dream. But it seemed so real. As real as the scene in front of her. It made her head hurt. She could still feel the light burning her to death, smell her own flesh burning, and hear Kiba screaming her name. But she could also feel the warmth of her blankets, smell the roast her mother was making in the slow-cooker, and hear her family speaking to her and to each other. It was too much. It made her head hurt. And so, she did the only thing that came naturally._

_She screamed._

* * *

**A/N: This is it. This is the last chapter of the beige room. After this, I start **_**The Light that Burns**_**. I'm excited.**

**Do you feel like you're missing information? Like you missed some critical details, and now this barely makes any sense? Good. Then I've done my job. This was preview and character reveal **_**only**_**. I admit I could've kept the characters a better secret. But in all I'm satisfied with my work.**

**As for my never updating, I'm extremely sorry. My computers losing its mind. I also have lots of homework, so not a lot of time to write. I'm supposed to be getting my computer fixed this weekend (**_**Supposed**_** to be anyway) so I might update a lot more. But the Chapters in the new story are going to be longer, and hopefully better, so I might barely update at all. Either way, I **_**will**_** update as much as I can, and I intend to spend every second of spare time writing. But also, I'm planning to do some other stories at the same time, so if you want to read stories from me in general you'll probably get a decent amount updates. But if you're only interested in this story in particular, there might be long waits.**

**But for now, please enjoy the last, longest, and in my opinion, best chapter of **_**The Beige Room**_**.**


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